Sharp County record., 1887-02-10

NluuOMsi dllIis 40 ii' Wv" '''s
hungry, he proposed they should
also gather around the table. A
few minutes. afterward, in the midst of a
merry peals of laughter from the chill
dren, there came again, that prolonged,
maniacal cry. Mr.. Purl sprang from
his chair and threw open the
door Cry after cry, wild, weird,
beseeching now rose on the still
night air. He took down the lantern,
saying:
1T is not Lou, but it is woman's
voice, and | must see to it.
They watched the light of the lantern
as it followed the turning of the road
through the wood for their land skirted
the forest, glancing at them here and
there like wakeful, watchful eye. At
last it was lost in the depth Of the
wood but as the screaming continued,
Mrs. Purl still gazed from the window
as though out of the dense gloom
revelation might come. The moments
dragged like hours, while her active
! Imagination coniured up wild pictures OF
wandering, suffering women. Atlast the
light again appeared in the distance and
it was soon evident that it was being
borne toward home at very rapid
rate. And from the north there was
mingled with the terrific cries the sound
of mems voices hallooing with all their
might, and while this pandemonium
was at its height, Mr.. Paul entered the
house, laughing heartily.
"Whv, Robert" calculated his wife,
reproachfully.
Rant and Harry are being sold as
badly as we are" he said. 81 imagine
they will soon tire of signaling lynx.
"A lynx"
"Yes, it is one of the peculiarities OF
those howlng animals that their cries
so closely resemble the human voice.
An intelligent being would wait be-
tween their cries for areply, but hark!'
A prolonged footing was now sand
wiched between the other sounds that
rent the air
ut is Freese with the dinner-horn,
and bark! there is Dams horn, too. On,
what hullabaloo over his lynXship, "
and Mr.. Purl laughe d, heartily enjoy
ing the fun.
"But,n said Mrs. Purl, shadow of
her first fear returning, chow do you
account for the nOn-appearance OF the
COWS? And | am sure that was lib
bie's peculiar step that beat the road
about shutdown"
"No doubt, and Tim was probably
her rider. He nearly always sets out
late, and also nearly always fails to
find the COWS. He, doubtless, went
home by the south road, and is now
peacefully smoking his pipe in the soli-
tude of his own room"
The strangely mingled commOtiOn
continued for more than half an hour,
but at last one after another of the sig
na Inra. onrrinnol- -e,f ~, q .renl<-----1---- :"
their efforts, ceased to make them, and,
taking advantage of this partial quiet.
the excited children were put to bed.
The screaming, however, continued,
although the intervals of silence grew
longer and more frequent, and Mr.
Purl and his wife having also retired,
they were during one of those sweet
spaces of silence overcome with sleep.
Far in the night Mrs Purl was aroused
by the rafting of "A horses hoofs, which
she at once recognized as Tibbie's.
She lay awake a long time, expecting
and fearing a renewal of the cries, but
the night was wrapped in the deep ST.
lence peculiar to that lonely region.
When Mr.. Pml arose in the morning
their gentle heifcr stood lowing at the
gate. Urged by their over-full udders,
the COWS had brought themselves home.
But that was Tibbie,9rep that l
heard in the night" said Mrs. Purl,
persistently.
"You think you know Tibbie's step
as well as You do mime said her hus-
band, "but for once, my dear, you see,
you are wrong
The cries, however, We're productive |
of much i'll to poor Tim. He owned |
eighty acres of this wild pine forest,
his land joining that of Robert Purl.
As near the edge Of the forest as posi-
bic space had been cleared, and a
cOmmOdiOus log house erected thereon.
1t was comfortably furnished, and it
was an open secret that it only waited
the full consent of the half-wOn hired
girl of Daniel Purl to endow it with a
mistress. The morning following the
commotion this coy damsel met Tim
with frowns.
Il am going home,' she said. I've
stayed long enough in country where
wild creatures keep decent people
awake all night"
Tim pleaded, with mwonted elo-
quence, the waiting house and her al
most given promise to rule over it, but
she only answered angrily:
II never promised you, and you
know it, and I'm glad | didn't. Do
,,o,, tb;nly TN fonl onnuuh to N, n, ,,r,, |